Description

TQ 53 37 SPELDHURST BIRD-IN-HAND STREET, OLD
GROOMBRIDGE
16/453 No 6
20.10.54

GV II*

House, once a public house. Probably C18, maybe earlier origins, minor C19
and C20 modernistion. Timber-framed. The ground floor front is underbuilt
with Flemish bond red brick and some original footings of coursed sandstone
shows in places. Timber frame above is hung with peg-tile. Brick stack
(maybe on a stone base) and brick chimneyshaft. Peg-tile roof.

Plan: 3-room plan house facing north east. Direct entry into main room to
right (north west) which has an end stack shared with the adjoining house, No
7 (q.v.). 2 small unheated rooms to left. It seems that the stack has always
been shared with No 7 and it may be that No 6 and 7 were originally parts of
the same house.

House is 2 storeys with a cellar and secondary lean-to outshots to rear.

Exterior: Irregular 3-window front of various C19 and C20 casements, the
latest with glazing bars the others with either diamond or rectangular panes
of leaded glass. Front doorway is roughly central and contains a C19 plank
door under a shallow hood on shaped timber brackets. Main roof is parallel to
the street running between the adjoining buildings. At ground floor level the
brickwork in front of the stack is different from the rest. Also the stone
footings under the brick run continuously from those of No 7 (q.v.) to right
stopping with a straight join at the front of the stack.

Interior: Little carpentry is exposed and the fireplaces have C20 grates.
Although the jowled heads of the wall posts show and the undersides of the tie
beams the roofspace itself is inaccessible. It is 3 bays.

No 6, it is said, was formerly the Bird-in-Hand public house which gave its
name to the street. It is also one of the superlative group of listed
buildings associated with Groombridge Place (q.v.) which make up Old
Groombridge village.

Listing NGR: TQ5297037730

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17547835

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  London 6: Westminster (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England): Westminster v. 6
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback